Obamagate and Unmasking Flynn

[_Some Schmo]

(repeat)

Trump's a douche!

(Why waste space?)

[_ajax18]

There is nothing illegal about requesting the unmasking of people. This is a 100% contrived scandal that was created for the one purpose of creating cover for the Trump administration

Is that why Brennan resorted to the "I don't recall," when questioned by Trey Gowdy about the unmasking. He was basically lying to Congress. Why isn't he in jail for perjury?

Why was Samantha Powers willing to lie to the reporter back in 2017 saying the unmasking allegations were false? And why does an ambassador to the UN need to unmask Gen. Flynn's private conversation with a Russian official? There was a jump from around 300 masking requests in Obama's first term to over 3300 requests in his second.

[Guest]

Yet again we see Ajax doesn’t read anything posted here that goes past a few sentences. If he had he would’ve seen over 35,000 unmasking requests have been made under Trump’s tenure. No biggie, right?

- Doc

[_Icarus]

There is nothing illegal about requesting the unmasking of people. This is a 100% contrived scandal that was created for the one purpose of creating cover for the Trump administration

Is that why Brennan resorted to the "I don't recall," when questioned by Trey Gowdy about the unmasking. He was basically lying to Congress. Why isn't he in jail for perjury?

Why was Samantha Powers willing to lie to the reporter back in 2017 saying the unmasking allegations were false? And why does an ambassador to the UN need to unmask Gen. Flynn's private conversation with a Russian official? There was a jump from around 300 masking requests in Obama's first term to over 3300 requests in his second.

So wait a minute, is this Brennangate or OBAMAGATE?

You're constantly making debunked claims and then shifting your ground when busted. But Brennan failing to remember requesting unmasking is hardly earth shattering when he probably did it 100+ times that same month and we're not even sure if he was successfully unmasked by his request.

A warrant is not required for REQUESTING to the intelligence community unmask someone. The fact that he/she needs to be unmasked means they don't know who the person is, which blows out of the water any claim that he was targeted for political reasons.

I can see how a warrant would be required if a request to unmask was DENIED but simply requesting isn't suspicious, not when it happens thousands of times every year, and even more so during the Trump administration. The fact that FOX and the Right Wing propaganda mill has managed to convince people there is something unusual or sinister about this is a testament to your collective stupidity.

[_EAllusion]

Again, Ajax, the report you are relying on doesn't mean every person named specifically was person who requested the "unmasking" of Flynn's name. It means that is a list of people potentially privy to his unredacted name and potentially could've made a request. There's a difference that you're just jumping right over. Also, saying "I don't recall" does not constitute perjury which is why Trump officials, including Flynn, keep having extensive episodes of amnesia.

His name was unredacted in intelligence reports because it was necessary to understand which US citizen was involved in the matters under question when a US citizen was caught in our spy operations against foreign powers having conversations where it would be reasonable to know which US citizen was having them.

As it turns out, one of the conversations Flynn was having was with the Russian ambassador. After Russia intervened in the US election to assist Donald Trump and was facing retaliatory sanctions by the United States, Flynn had a conversation with the ambassador to urge Russia to not respond in kind with the promise that US sanctions would be dropped when Trump took over. He then lied about this in public and, if you believe the Trump admin wasn't in on it, to Mike Pence. Because lying about potentially embarrassing conversations with Russian officials makes you a potential blackmail target, the FBI investigated and he lied about it to them. This was one of several crimes Flynn ended up committing. It was the one he pled guilty to in a plea bargain for his cooperation not to charge him on other matters, including lying about being an unregistered foreign agent for multiple countries, which, in one case, involved him helping with a plot to kidnap an American resident and deliver him to a dictator who wants his head on a pike.

The potential illegal activity here is that a person leaked Flynn's behavior with respect to the Russian ambassador to the press. It depends on who did it. That person had just cause to do so given the facts, but that is what will go beyond crazed innuendo if they ever catch that person and it turns out they were not in a position to legally divulge that information to the press.

You're jumping on a ginned up pseudo-scandal made up out of nothing, ignoring a real open-air scandal about how US intelligence is being weaponized to help Donald Trump's election efforts, and holding a whole range of serious malfeasance on the part of Trump and his inner circle to a wildly different standard of impropriety.

[_EAllusion]

And if you believe the theories of executive power you pretend to when Donald Trump's defenders are invoking him to keep him above the law, then Barack Obama and anyone underneath him he deems fit has an inherent right to see anything and everything intelligence is lawfully intercepting unredacted because he is, by definition, the US intelligence operation with everyone else just sharing in his labor at his discretion.

[_Some Schmo]

Everything about Trump and his base is encapsulated in the time Trump called a former Miss America "disgusting" because she had apparently gained weight.

This, coming from a bunch of fat, disgusting pigs.

Trump should wear a mask just to raise his poll numbers. People might forget what an ugly idiot he is.

[_ajax18]

including lying about being an unregistered foreign agent for multiple countries

Is the Flynn the first future cabinet member for an incoming administration to have conversations with foreign government leaders before January 20?

It depends on who did it. That person had just cause to do so given the facts, but that is what will go beyond crazed innuendo if they ever catch that person and it turns out they were not in a position to legally divulge that information to the press.

Could Comey be prosecuted for his admitted leaking? It just seems odd to me that leaking is so common and seems to be done with impunity.

And if you believe the theories of executive power you pretend to when Donald Trump's defenders are invoking him to keep him above the law, then Barack Obama and anyone underneath him he deems fit has an inherent right to see anything and everything intelligence is lawfully intercepting unredacted because he is, by definition, the US intelligence operation with everyone else just sharing in his labor at his discretion.

Well I seriously doubt Obama will ever be held accountable for any of this any more than he was held accountable for Benghazi.

[_Res Ipsa]

Ajax, you said that the unmasking required a warrant. Cite the law that says that.

[_Some Schmo]

Markk must be locked out of the forum. I wonder why we haven't gotten extensive nonsense on this idiotic subject from him as well.

Joe Scarborough is right. The GOP base is like a cat trying to catch a laser dot on a wall. Reality is not their strength.

What's the next conspiracy you got lined up guys, for when, you know, this one fizzles out?